Friday 29 January 2016

Tennis:'Ryder Cup of tennis' to launch in 2017

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray could join forces in Laver Cup
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic could join forces and play on the same team after the launch of a new Ryder Cup-style tournament was announced.

The Laver Cup, named after Australia's 11-time major champion Rod Laver, will be a three-day event pitting a European team against the rest of the world.

The competition will be held annually, except for Summer Olympic years, and the first edition is set for September 2017.

Laver said: "I can see this becoming a very important part of the experience of being a top global player, with the world's best longing to earn the right to participate and thriving in this style of competition.

"It's so good to see the sport of tennis finally develop a proper counterpart event to the Ryder Cup."

Teams will be made up of six players, with four qualifying through results and the other two selected by their team captains. Matches will feature both singles and doubles ties.

The amount of prize money available will be confirmed later this year but the competition will not qualify as an ATP event and no rankings points will be on offer.

On paper, Europe would be massive favourites to win. Nine of the world's top 10 are European, the exception being world No 7 Kei Nishikori. The Japanese star's automatic selection team-mates, if the team was selected on the current rankings, would be America's John Isner, Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Canada's Milos Raonic.

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